


there's space for you right here in this home

by citadelofswords



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Dancing, F/F, FatT Femslash Week, Non-Linear Narrative, Pre-Winter in Hieron, hadrian and benjamin are there for a second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 15:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15440388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/citadelofswords/pseuds/citadelofswords
Summary: “What if someone comes while you’re gone?” There’s a weight to the way Rosana says “you’re,” like she isn’t just talking about the little group of adventurers Hella’s found herself stuck with, like she's not talking about her husband, like she’s just talking about Hella herself.(or, some stolen moments.)





	there's space for you right here in this home

**Author's Note:**

> no betas or fact checking or plot consistency we die like men
> 
> i haven't finished winter at all but this is pre-winter anyway so it's all good
> 
> hands / swords. yes i maybe threw in dance and stealing time but they're good actually. title from whisper by serpentwithfeet.

“Teach me?”

Hella looks up from where she practices (with a tree, because no-one in Velas can rival her prowess with a sword) to see Rosana watching from the back door. She’s got a basket balanced on one hip but she sets it down just inside the house to step closer.

“Um,” Hella says. “Are you— are you sure?” Her sword hangs heavy in one hand, as she lowers it. “What do you need to know how to use a sword for?”

“What if someone comes while you’re gone?” There’s a weight to the way Rosana says “you’re,” like she isn’t just talking about the little group of adventurers Hella’s found herself stuck with, like she's not talking about her _husband_ , like she’s just talking about Hella herself.

“I’m sure you could wield your kitchen knives just as well.”

“Still.” Rosana smiles. “Show me?”

Hella exhales. “Sure,” she says. “But… tomorrow. I’ll bring you a blade.”

 

* * *

 

“Okay,” Rosana says. “I’m ready this time.”

Hella nods and steps back to take Rosana’s hand in hers. She and Hadrian are about the same size, so it only makes sense that Rosana practice their wedding dance with Hella while he’s busy with Church business.

Hella’s clumsy with Velasian dances, more used to the complicated footwork involved in Ordennan dances. The simplicity of Velasian dances make her stumble. But Rosana’s hand in hers, rough from working but not calloused like Hella’s own, is surprisingly grounding.

Doesn’t stop her from stepping on Rosana’s toes a couple times. “Sorry,” Hella mumbles, feeling her cheeks heat.

“Do you really think Hadrian is a better dancer?” Rosana laughs. “Honestly, this is perfection compared to him.”

Hella nods, laughing a little. “He’s fair with a blade, but not super graceful,” she admits.

“Exactly.” Rosana switches her hands, so she’s leading, Hella following. This, at least, Hella can do; it may have been years since they first met but Hella knows how to follow Rosana into any mischief she put her mind to, and she knows how to trust that Rosana will bring her where she needs to go.

“Besides,” Rosana says, after another few moments of silence. “If I’m going to dance with you at my wedding, I should know what I’m getting into.”

“With— me?” Hella doesn’t mean to sound so surprised, but. “It’s not… usual for the bride to dance with others who aren’t her new partner at her wedding, right?”

“Not in Velas, no,” Rosana says, sending Hella into a bit of a twirl. She feels silly and clunky for the moment she’s out of Rosana’s arms, but then she’s back and Rosana is smiling at her and she feels like a goddess. “But isn’t it Ordennan tradition that the bride dances with her sister-shields at her wedding?”

Hella blinks in surprise, dance forgotten for the moment. “It is.”

“Then it’s settled.” Rosana grins. “Show me one of your Ordennan dances? If we’re going to do this, I want to do it right.”

 

* * *

 

Hella finds a smaller blade, and she places it in Rosana’s hands when she arrives at her door the next morning. “It’s going to be boring at first,” she warns, as she makes her way through the house to the back yard.

“I don’t mind,” Rosana says. “It means more time I get to spend with you.”

Hella is glad she’s facing away from Rosana so Rosana won’t see how her cheeks turn red, and she makes herself school her expression before she turns around. “We’re gonna start with your stance, and how you hold your blade. If that’s all I can teach you, you can at least not hurt yourself when you stab someone.”

Rosana laughs. “Okay, show me,” she says, eyes twinkling.

She’s a natural at it. Hella’s not exactly surprised; Rosana’s always been light on her feet, and the shortsword moves as naturally in her hands as a kitchen knife does. But she’s holding onto it like she’s afraid it’s going to fall from her hand and Hella, unthinking, steps behind her and closes her hand over Rosana’s on the hilt. “Relax your grip,” she says, quiet. “You’ll strain your joints holding this that tightly.”

Rosana glances over her shoulder and nods, slowly, her hand going slack in Hella’s grip. Her hair’s slipping out of its wrap, and Hella swallows as she wonders if she ought to tuck it back. 

There’s a crash from inside the house, and Benjamin shouts, “Mom!”

Hella steps back. Rosana sighs, and hands the sword back to Hella. “Duty calls,” she jokes. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

She sweeps into the house, tucking her hair under the scarf holding it out of her face, and Hella misses her already.

 

* * *

 

They’d met on the edges of Velas, on one of Hella’s earliest trips in. It would come to define their early years together, that they’d somehow managed to fall into the same trouble, but instead of fighting Rosana just grabbed Hella’s hand and whispered, “Run!”

After the last few times, Hella stopped trying to pull away from her and started to enjoy the exhilaration. The wind in her hair, Rosana’s laughter in her ears— if anyone else had tried to pull Hella away from a fight, even then, they would have been left behind. But Hella found, after several instances of them sneaking away to get into trouble, that it wasn’t so bad to avoid fights with Rosana.

On one such night, as they hide in an alleyway, Hella realizes she hasn’t let go of Rosana’s hand, even though they're pressed against opposite stone walls. Admittedly, the alleyway is fairly narrow, but it still makes her pause when she notices how their arms are stretched between them, hands and fingers linked. “Sorry,” Hella whispers, and tries to pull away.

“For what?” Rosana asks, and tugs a little on Hella’s hand. Hella’s cheeks burn, but she follows Rosana’s tug, until she's leaning against the wall next to her, instead of across from her.

A little of Rosana’s hair has fallen from under her wrap. Hella reaches up, unthinking, to tuck it back, and when Rosana draws in a little breath Hella freezes, and doesn't move her hand.

Later she wouldn’t be able to say who kissed who first, but Hella would remember that first kiss for years— how Rosana gripped her shirt, how soft her lips were, how their clasped hands got caught between their chests and neither of them let go. It wasn’t Hella’s first, but it was Rosana’s, she'd said.

“But,” Hella says, quietly, “I thought, I thought you were gonna be married soon.”

Rosana grins at her. “Any  _ man _ ,” she says, “who doesn’t accept that you’re a permanent part of my life is no man I want to marry or have a family with. You’re stuck with me, Hella. For better or for worse.”

“There are worse people to be stuck with,” Hella admits, and Rosana grins before kissing her again.

 

* * *

 

Rosana hangs the sword above the fireplace, where she can reach it if she ever needs. She kisses Hella’s cheek and squeezes her hand as she goes outside to say goodbye to Hadrian, and as they ride away from the small house Hella hopes, as she does every time she leaves Rosana, that she’ll still be glad to see them when they return.

**Author's Note:**

> rosana picked the right man to marry, since hadrian is too oblivious to notice that hella's definitely been kissing his wife since before they met
> 
> come find me on twitter @citadelofswords


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